Recently, with increases in the recording capacity of disc-shaped recording media, a type of video camera has emerged which stores moving images or still images on a disc instead of a conventional videotape. Since disc-shaped recording media allow random access, a favorite scene can be found efficiently. For example, because of superior image quality and superior usability such as the editing capability, the users of DVD video cameras are increasing year by year.
The important points to consider in ensuring physical compatibility among commercial DVD drives and pieces of consumer recording and playback equipment are the data recording radius and the state of the mirror surface. The data recording radius is the radius from the inner circumference of a disc on which data is actually recorded, and the mirror surface is the state of a disc surface when data is not recorded at all. When many mirror surface portions remain on a disc, there are quite a few cases in which the disc cannot be played back on a player that executes a playback process, that is, a typical player having a DVD-ROM drive.
For example, in the case where data recording is performed using DVD−RW as an example of a disc that allows data writes, to load this disc into a typical DVD-ROM drive for playback, a data recording radius of 70 mm or more is required. Also, in the case of DVD+RW as an example of a disc that allows data writes, to load the disc into a typical DVD-ROM drive for playback, a data recording radius of 30 mm or more is required. In this way, a data recording radius of a certain size or more is required to ensure physical compatibility. Also, to ensure higher compatibility, it is preferable that no mirror surface remain on the disc.
Accordingly, in many of DVD recording devices such as video cameras, to attain high physical compatibility, that is, to enable playback on a typical player having a DVD-ROM drive, if there is not much recorded data, a process is performed in which dummy data is written into an unrecorded area, thereby reducing a mirror surface as the unrecorded area.
For example, during the course of the formatting process at the time of start of recoding or the like, or the finalizing process at the end of recording or disc ejection, a process is performed in which a dummy padding process of recording dummy data into an unrecorded area of data is carried out so that no mirror surface remains.
However, this dummy padding process is a process that requires some length of time, and if the process is executed as a process performed before the start of recording, the user is made to wait until it becomes possible to start recording, so there is a problem in that the shooting/recording timing is missed. Also, in the case where the process is executed as a process performed before disc ejection, it takes time until the disc is ejected from the device, so there is a disadvantage of making the user wait.